Wildfires can still contaminate water 8 years later, researchers find
Wildfires can negatively impact water quality, even after they’re extinguished. And new research shows those negative impacts can last for up to eight years. Carli Brucker led the study of 100,000 samples from 500 watersheds across the western U.S. Their findings: Contaminants like nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon were in that water and, in some cases, stayed in it for years. … She says there’ve been a number of studies looking at the post-wildfire impacts on water quality but that this is one of the first showing those impacts can last as long as eight years after a fire.
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